Free Republic

CAIRO — Egypt said Sunday that security forces have killed 19 militants in a shootout, including the gunmen suspected of killing seven Christians in an attack on pilgrims traveling to a remote desert monastery.The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said the militants were tracked to a hideout in the desert west of the central province of Minya, the site of Friday’s attack, which also left 19 people wounded.It said the alleged militants opened fire when they realized they were being besieged by security forces. It did not say when the shootout took place. The ministry published photographs purporting to...

MINYA, Egypt (AP) -- Hundreds of Egyptian Christians attended a funeral service Saturday after seven people were killed in an ambush by Islamic State militants of buses carrying pilgrims to a remote desert monastery. 【Related】IS attack on Christian pilgrims in Egypt kills 7 【Related】Japan, Egypt to work to bring stability to Middle East 【Related】Egypt governor: Remove Disney figures from kindergartens The service at Prince Tadros church in the central city of Minya was held amid tight security. Minya's top cleric, Anba Makarios, led prayers over a row of six white coffins, all victims from the same family. A separate funeral...

In Minya, Egypt, Coptic Christians were terrorized in another attack targeting the minority group on Friday. Islamic militants opened gunfire on two buses carrying Coptic Christians en route to an ancient monastery in Upper Egypt, killing seven and injuring more than eleven. Friday’s attack is one in a series of attacks on Egypt’s ancient Christian community, which currently makes up between 10 and 15 percent of Egypt’s population. Minya has the largest population of Christians in the country — 35 percent of residents are Christians — and experiences a lion’s share of the sectarian attacks. According to Open Doors USA’s...

At least seven people were killed and at least 19 others were injured in an attack on several buses carrying Coptic Christians near a monastery in Egypt on Friday, according to a spokesperson for Egypt's Coptic Church. Gunmen attacked two buses and a microbus on a road near the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor, in Minya, south of Cairo, the spokesperson said. One of the buses was carrying 28 members of a family that had traveled to the monastery for the baptism of one of its children, six of whom were injured, according to the spokesman. At least seven...

CAIRO – Islamic militants on Friday ambushed two buses carrying Christian pilgrims on their way to a remote desert monastery south of the Egyptian capital of Cairo, killing seven and wounding up to 16, according to the Interior Ministry and security officials. Coptic Orthodox Church spokesman Boulos Halim said the death toll was likely to rise. Local church officials in Minya province where the attack took place put the death toll at 10, but the higher figure could not be confirmed. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants who have for years...

The Tunisian city of Sousse has decided to name four streets for local prominent Jews, JTA reported Friday. According to the report, the municipality will recognize Claude Sitbon, a lawyer; Daniel Uzan, a physician; Yvonne Bessis, a midwife; and the Ghouila-Houri and Ichoua families of city developers. The streets are located in a new neighborhood of villas in the city’s north. Sousse, a coastal resort city which is a popular vacation destination for Westerners, was attacked by Islamist terrorists in 2015. A gunman killed 38 tourists, mostly from Britain, in the attack that was claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS)....

The Pentagon is considering withdrawing nearly all American commandos from Niger in the wake of a deadly October ambush that killed four United States soldiers. Three Defense Department officials said the plans, if approved by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, would also close military outposts in Tunisia, Cameroon, Libya and Kenya, as well as seven of the eight American elite counterterrorism units operating in Africa. The shift in forces is part of the Pentagon’s defense strategy to focus on threats from China and Russia. But they represent a more severe cut of Special Operations forces in Africa than initially expected, leaving...

The spasm of Hamas-provoked violence that gripped the Gaza Strip and parts of southern Israel last week has temporarily halted for the time being. According to credible reports, Israel informed Cairo that it would begin targeting Hamas leaders and commanders if Hamas failed to rein in its assorted thugs and gangsters. Hamas heeded the call, and for good reason. Over the years, Israel’s various security branches have developed a penchant for liquidating dangerous enemies who seek to inflict harm on the Jewish State. Hamas is keenly aware of this fact having recently lost two of its operatives – Mohammad Zawari and Fadi...

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Sunday suggested that Jeremy Corbyn should quit as Labour leader following controversy over his visit to a cemetery in Tunisia containing memorials to Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists, the Daily Mail reports. Questions were raised over Corbyn’s 2014 trip after the Daily Mail published pictures of the Labour leader holding a wreath near the graves of some of those terrorists who were responsible for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Labour said that Corbyn had already made clear he was paying his respects to the victims of a 1985 Israeli...

In Arab-Muslim countries limited-free speech is the norm, due to political and religious constraints. Tunisia and Morocco are not as severe as others. Middle Eastern governments often speak highly of liberty and democracy, especially when addressing the West. However, in reality, these regimes are totalitarian and dictatorial. Islamic religious doctrine governs the state to a lesser or greater degree. The Quran and the Sharia forbid freedoms that are taken for granted in the West. Islam is a hyper-sensitive ideology with severe ramifications built into its doctrine. The world knows this, and our way to respond to it should be made...

German police have arrested a Tunisian man after discovering "toxic substances" at his flat in Cologne, officials said Wednesday, with prosecutors not ruling out a possible terror motive. The man and his wife, whose nationality was not released, were detained late Tuesday night after officers raided their flat and came across "unknown substances" that are now being analysed by specialists, Cologne police said in a statement.

Hamas Engineer 'Negotiated Arms Deals With North Korea, Assassinated by Mossad' in Malaysia Report in The New York Times cites intelligence officials saying Batsh was killed as part of Mossad attempt to stop Hamas operations overseas, reveals ties to North Korea Haaretz | 26.04.2018 09:19 Updated: 12:26 PM Fadi al-Batsh, the Hamas engineer gunned down in Malaysia last week, was reportedly involved in talks with North Korea on arms intended for Gaza, The New York Times reported Thursday. To really understand the Middle East - subscribe to Haaretz According to the report, Batsh was killed as part of an alleged operation by...

The dominant narrative of modern Middle East history emphasizes European colonization and accepts as a truism that the former colonial powers prioritized the protection of their material interests—in oil, above all—above the dignity and self-determination of the region’s inhabitants. --Thus did botched decolonization result in endless instability...Thus did the region become a breeding ground for radicalism, intensified by Cold War rivalry between the superpowers, who replaced the European colonizers as the region’s meddling overlords...Then came Mikhail Gorbachev—a Westernizing reformer. At last, the Cold War was over. A new world order was at hand. What if this conventional wisdom is nonsense?...

...Alaklouk — a Saudi citizen and native of Tunisia — had no gun permit, an expired Indiana driver’s license and had been living in Indiana illegally on a terminated student visa since September 2017, according to the criminal complaint. He’s now facing federal charges for possessing a gun while living in the country illegally. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in federal prison.... Realizing his room overlooked the march, the hotel asked police to remove Alaklouk. Indianapolis police had Alaklouk and two unidentified men leave the room, according to the criminal complaint, and then authorities monitored Alaklouk...

History Documentary hosted by Ewan Bailey, published by History Channel in 2012 - English narration The shipwreck of Mahdia was found by Greek sponge fishermen off the coast of Tunisia in June 1907. The shipwreck near the modern town of Mahdia is dated about the 80s BC, or even later. In a series of underwater campaigns a large number of items were recovered and placed on display at the Musée National du Bardo, Tunis. The greater parts of the sculptures were salvaged between 1907 and 1913 by French archaeologist Alfred Merlin, at that time Director of Antiquities in the Protectorate...

In a Nov. 25, 2017 article marking the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, published in the London-based daily Al-Hayat, Lebanese journalist Karam Al-Hilu compared the meager accomplishments of the Arab world in the past century with those of the rest of the countries, particularly Israel. He noted that Israel’s supremacy in the areas of science, economy, society and politics is the source of its strength, as well as the source of Arab failure in confronting it. The following are excerpts from his article:[1] “A century after the Balfour Declaration . . . the Arabs have not managed to build...

The secrets of the Roman Empire's ancient and 'luxurious' harbour of Corinth have been revealed in a series of new underwater excavations. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of 'large-scale engineering' at the port of Lechaion, which was mostly destroyed in the 6th or early 7th century AD by a massive earthquake. Wooden foundations preserved so well they look new have been found at the site, as well as a host of Roman artefacts including fishing lines and hooks, wooden pulleys and ceramics imported from Tunisia and Turkey. These discoveries are helping researchers understand the infrastructure and layout of an ancient port...

Swiss police said on Saturday they had expelled a person facing criminal charges in Switzerland for suspected links to a terrorist group, over fears he poses a threat to national security. […] According to Swiss media, the man is a French-Tunisian national in his 40s who was working as a taxi driver when he was arrested in Geneva last June. He had reportedly attempted to travel to Syria with his family and also helped recruit others to join the jihadists there. He was released from Swiss detention last Wednesday and has since been sent back to France, where he is...

The removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored, says Tom Gross It is not surprising, given the sheer scale of the Holocaust and its sadism, that it has dominated contemporary discourse among Jews and others. But, while the extermination of European Jews has rightfully (though belatedly) generated a great deal of study and research, the removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored. This ignorance extends to policy-makers at the highest level. Some journalists and politicians I have spoken to have expressed surprise when I even mentioned that Jews...

Update: Who was that man over Senator Blumenthal’s left shoulder? Posted by Ann Corcoran on October 7, 2015 Yesterday we told you that Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is leading the charge to lessen the security screening for Syrian and other Middle Eastern refugees and he wants to expand the so-called P-3 (fraud ridden!) family reunification program. See yesterday’s post by clicking here. That is CAIR-Connecticut’s Executive Director behind Senator Blumenthal. Getting pretty brazen aren’t they, or is Blumenthal just pretty dense to invite CAIR to be so prominently involved in lessening security screening for refugees? Now we know the answer...